This week I’m hosting Kathleen Y’Barbo with Flora’s Wish, Jessica Keller with Home for Good, Deanna Klingel with Cracks in the Ice, and Joyce Magnin with Cake, Love, Chickens and a Taste of Peculiar. If you want to enter the drawings for the books, please leave a comment on one of the post during the week with your email address. I will not enter you without an email address (my way to contact you if you win). If you don’t want to leave an email address, another way you can enter is to email me at margaretdaley@gmail.com. The drawings end Sunday (Feb. 17th) evening.
Heroine Interview from Home for Good by Jessica Keller:
Ali, tell me the most interesting thing about you.
Honestly, I’m not all that interesting…I’ve lived in Bitterroot Valley my entire life if that tells you something. I should have left, but I…I just couldn’t. These mountains, the clean rivers, and the family ranch—this is home.
What do you do for fun?
Teasing my son, Chance, is always a riot, but besides that I love to bake and make homemade meals for Chance, my sister, and our ranch hands.
What do you put off doing because you dread it?
Okay, I know it sounds terrible, but I always put off visiting my mom at the nursing home. Seeing her like that—unable to breathe on her own—just tears me apart too much.
What are you afraid of most in life?
That somehow Jericho will discover that Chance is his son. But, he’ll never. Let’s face it…I haven’t seen the man since he walked out on me eight years ago. What are the chances of him just strolling back into my life now? Zero.
What do you want out of life?
Wow. I guess I want to know that I made a difference in at least one person’s life. That’s why I started Big Sky Dreams, my therapeutic horseback-riding program. If once child smiles because of Big Sky Dreams then all the work and worry is worth it.
What is the most important thing to you?
Without a doubt, my son, Chance. I’ll do anything to protect him from the kind of childhood I had.
Do you read? If so, what is your favorite type of book to read?
These days I’m afraid to admit that I don’t have time to read all that often. Between overseeing the ranch, running my non-profit, Big Sky Dreams, and raising my son, there aren’t enough hours in the day. I use to love reading old westerns though.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I wouldn’t have started barrel racing, because if I hadn’t been so crazy about barrel racing then my dad wouldn’t have been at the rodeo that day. And he’d still be with us.
Do you have a pet? If so, what is it and why that pet?
Besides all the normal animals on a ranch, I have a one pet that is dear to me. Denny is my barrel racing horse and he’s been with me since before my dad died. Dad bought him for me at an auction and when he brought Denny home the pour horse was all rib bones, but he cleaned up well with a lot of love and grain. We became champions together, but that’s not why I love him so much. Denny was there for me when my world fell apart. He’s been the only constant in my life. People may say I’m being silly, but Denny is one of my closest friends.
If you could travel back in time, where would you go and why?
*sigh* There is one very obvious answer for me, but then, if I answered it that way then I wouldn’t have my son, Chance, and I wouldn’t trade Chance for anything in the world. So I’m going to have to say I’d go back to the night Jericho left…I wouldn’t yell at him. Maybe he would have stayed. Maybe we’d be a family now. Wait, who am I kidding? No, he can never know. Can we make sure he doesn’t see this interview?
